Sands of Time
by kristinbenoit
Summary: An MIT grad raised in an orphanage stumbles into the world of immortals. How ironic is it that she's marked to be one herself? Story will increase to Mature before ending.
1. Chapter 1

This is only part 1. I have to rewrite alot because my MSN group got deleted somehow and I lost several stories.

1

At times, it seems that this document appears broken like journal entries. As one of the remaining, 'Watchers' it has been my station to chronicle the end of the race known as 'The Immortals.' Some would wonder why that I was chosen for such a high-level assignment, especially being that I had technically not been born yet. Looking back at why I am where I am, I remember not thinking I could do it myself. I look up from the book and glance across the room at my husband as he plays with our children, that neither of us where supposed to have. He looks up at me and in those dark brown eyes; I'm transported to the first time I ever looked into them.

Summer of 2003, I am a recent honor graduate of M.I.T. At this time, in my life, I am hoping to get a job with NASA or some cool law enforcement agency. I love the old spy movies. The Charlie's Angels' t.v. shows are my favorite because of the girls who defied the norm and showed that women could be intelligent and attractive at the same time they were kicking your butt. It got even better with the movies starring Drew Barrymore. I knew nothing of the Watchers or Immortals. I thought they were just a figure of Joss Whedon's over active imagination. My only concepts of sexy older men were the James Bond movies my grandparents enjoyed watching. The only time I thought of any thing remotely similar was when my friend, Michele loaned me a copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD. In it, I found an elf that was quite attractive for being several thousands of -years-old and not much else. Michele had just graduated from Julliard and we had treated ourselves to a trip to Europe. We went to Paris, Madrid, and Prague. We went to a bar and drank excessively much. Michele did some sort of River Dance on the bar that she had learned as a child with some guy's boxers on her head. We stayed until a bar fight broke out and we were separated in the fray. I wondered the streets for some time and ended up in a back alley. I stumble on two men sword fighting. There is a man with shoulder length blond hair filming it. My thought was 'hey, a movie!' I knew Michele would just die to hear that I had walked into this and did not waste a second trying to get the camera guy's attention so I could be on camera. A thick Scottish accent asked me 'What are you doing here?' in a shocked voice. The two men fighting then distract us both. The taller one with long brown hair past his shoulders is standing over the other one. He speaks one sentence—

"There can be only one!" He too has a thick Scottish accent. The next thing I know he swings back and chops the other guy's head off. I gasp and stand frozen to the ground. He looks up on me and we lock eyes. He has deep brown eyes, the color of hot coffee. He starts to say something but I couldn't hear it as there is a loud clap of thunder overhead and he is hit by a burst of lighting. The guy next to me reaches for my arm but he's hit by the lighting too. He rocks forward and the current sends small shocks through my body. The guy in front of me is hit by two simultaneous bursts of lighting.

Sometime in the aftermath, I must have passed out from the shock. I don't know precisely how long I was unconscious. I awoke the next morning in strange surroundings. It was daylight and I could hear gulls. I look out the open window and see the ocean. I quickly panic and check to see if I'm still dressed. I am. My shoes are the only thing that has been removed and I can see them on a nearby chair. My purse is on the nightstand next to me. The only thing disturbed as far as I can tell is my passport is on top of the purse. It is flipped open. I almost have a heart attack. I climb out of the bed slowly. I do not miss the fact that a small couch near the end of the bed has a pillow and blanket folded over the arm as if someone recently slept there. I pick up my passport and quickly check to make sure everything is as it should be. I am surprised to find everything intact. I dig through my purse to check the contents and I hear the door open....


	2. Chapter 2

I'd like to thank everyone who added me or Sands of Time to their favorites list. Highlander is a passion of mine that I have had since I was 15 and discovered the series. Through my love of wrestling, I was introduced via The Fabulous Freebirds to the Highlander movie. In case you do not know, Connor McCloud is watching them wrestle at Madison Square Garden in the opening scene of the original movie.

**********

I took a deep relieved breath as I heard a woman's voice prelude the closing of a door. My heart

was slowly returning to normal and my brain was functioning more on a level where I could think about escaping. I took a deep breath and looked out the porthole's. I wasn't fat but there was no way in hell I could fit out these tiny things. I froze as I realize they had stopped talking. Had they heard me moving around? I didn't know. My breath caught in my throat as I waited.

"What of the girl?"

I started to breath again relieved. Whatever had happened, why they had paused had now passed. The one with the American accent had asked about me. What would they do with me?

"I think she could help us."

Me? I damn sure wasn't going to get involved. Maybe I had fallen down and hit my head. Okay, so maybe my clothes were on and these people hadn't molested me. I still didn't know who these people were. They could be criminals and maybe just maybe I hadn't hit my head. One of these men had killed someone in front of me and now they were wanting me to join them. What were they an International terrorist group or some warped form of Mafia?

"Look she's just a lass..." This one had the voice I remember from last night. The one who had the sword. "I don't think she should be anymore involved than she is. She passed out. I say we send Amanda to wake her up and get her back to her where it is she comes from without her being any wiser about the danger she's in."

Danger? Me? This was just great. Here is this murderer, granted with an amazingly sexy accent trying to get his partners to let me go. This was started to get even weirder.

"I say we give her a chance. You never thought I'd give up my wayward ways either."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Amanda."

I couldn't place this accent. It was close to British but off somehow.

A unique staccato laugh answered the comments. "She is just a girl but from her background, granted if what Adam and Joe say is true, then she'd never know the difference anyway."

"Shouldn't we give her the choice?"

I thought so.

"Mac, I hear what you are saying, but Kell is murdering innocent people!"

The American had caught my attention. They were trying to stop a murderer? So what in the hell was with all the sword play last night and why were they filming it? Maybe I hadn't seen someone's head being cut off. It could have been a movie.

"No, Dawson."

"Look let's just ask her. I will go in," the woman paused. "ALONE, boys and have a girl to girl chat."

I fixed my purse so that it was behind my back. I might be able to take the woman but what about the four men? I stood back from the door and waited for the woman named Amanda.

She had the decency to knock on the door before slowly opening the door. "I know you are awake we could hear you moving. So trust me when I tell you that no matter what you do to me, you can t hurt me."

I put more space between us as a woman dressed in black leather with extremely short black hair slowly slipped in the door and closed it behind her. "What do you want from me?"

"I think we can cut the BS, you and I," she lowered her voice so the others couldn't hear her. "I know that you were eavesdropping but I'm not going to hold that against you." She moved to one side of the room and sat on a chair. She looked around, almost sad. "I remember when this was Ritchie's room." The streetwise toughness came back to her dark eyes and she turned back to me. "No one is going to hurt you. They are just going to tell you a lot of craziness about time travel and see if you were interested. If not then you can walk away. St. Duncan will probably even give you money to pretend you never even were here."

"Is he like a cop or something?"

She chuckled. "I know you were listening." She stood up and looked out the window. "No, but the guys out there, at one time or another, they were military......they spent a lot and I do mean a lot of time in the military." She seemed to laugh at her own joke before shaking her head. "One is a pacifist so the likelihood that you are going to be hurt by any of us is slim or none with Adam around. So you can walk out of here with me, listen to what they have to say, and then tell them they are crazy and walk free or..."

"What's stopping me from walking out of here anyway?"

"The fact that there is a couple seriously hot guys out there you might want to ogle."

I frowned. "Really?" I groaned. "Why are you telling me this?"

"It is especially important to check the ass out of the one with the long black hair. Body you can sink your teeth into."

I sighed. There was a shortage of hot guys in my history. It wouldn't hurt to look, would it?

"Okay, if he's really that hot."

"Smokin' hot girl," she gestured for me and put her arm around me. I was still wary. "He dances and he's smart..."

"Oh great, he's probably gay."

She opened the door and the one with short black hair stood up. "Damn it, Amanda what the hell are you telling her? For the hundredth time, I am not now or have I ever been interested in men."

She winked at me. "Who said I was talking about you, Adam?"

I looked around the room. Just as I had thought, there were four men in the room. An older man with salt and pepper hair cut in a military buzz cut, a nice looking older man with short blond hair, the man standing up named Adam, and the extremely hot one who had the long black hair. He was wearing a perturbed expression on his face. My mouth watered as he stood up. He was wearing a tank top, sweat pants, and a bandanna tied over his long hair. He pulled a cup from a hook and held it out to me. "What?"

His accent slipped away as he answered. "I thought if you were going to listen to this insanity that you'd like a cup of coffee. I would pour it myself but I didn't think you'd accept it."

The blond rubbed his eyes as if a migraine was coming on. "In the old days women would be pleased if a man served them instead of the other way around."

"When was that, the Fifties?" I smirked at them. I should play it cool, be suspicious if anyone decided to get crazy.

"More like the 1750s but yeah," the one called Adam turned to the others. "I like her. She's sarcastic."

"Oh gee, I wonder why you like her?" The hot one asked opening the fridge to gesture that I was to help myself.

"Probably the same reason you like her, she reminds you of Ritchie."

I frowned. "Who's Ritchie and why isn't he here?"

The hot one punched the wall and then took several deep breaths. He finally turned, gave a sour smile, and then apologized. "He was killed several years ago. I couldn't stop it. I..."

I watched as a multitude of emotions crossed his face. He was tormented by so many memories that I couldn't even imagine. "Some kind of war thing?"

He nodded. "Some kind of war thing...." He seemed to pale... "Yeah, I guess you could call it a war..."

"Oh...You can't talk about it...you must be Special Forces...." I sigh. "My friend's dad was a

Ranger in Vietnam. She says he still has nightmares."

The older man groaned and flexed his legs. "You have no idea what kind of hell it was over there. You were never sure who was your enemy....could very well be the stoned soldier covering your back or the child that was dressed in explosives by their parents who just wanted some American candy. So many innocent lives were lost for nothing."

"Are you okay? Do your legs bother you?"

He looked up at me and I was startled by how amused his blue eyes were despite the pain. "It's called Phantom pain." He held up a cane. "I lost them."

"Oh My God," I gasp. "I'm so sorry!"

For some reason the older blond man placed a hand on my shoulder, not threateningly but soothingly. "It's okay, you didn't know. You are curious, it's to be expected...waking up in a strange place and I'm sure you probably heard the four of us old man talking some crazy stuff before Amanda showed up. I think it best that we introduce ourselves before we get any farther. It might ease some of your insecurities." He held out his chair and gestured for me to sit. "My name is.." he paused and glanced around. The hot guy seemed worried. "My name is Connor McCloud." He gestured to the hot guy. "This is my clansmen, Duncan."

"OH! So you are cousins."

Mr. Hottie glanced at me funny before answering. "Something like that."

The Vietnam Veteran reached to shake my hand. "My name is Joe Dawson. I try to keep these people in line, but they do not usually listen to me."

"It could be we are more experienced than you when it comes to," Adam cleared his throat. "life experiences."

I frowned. "Right, he's older than all of you, except maybe Connor."

Mr. Hottie looked at me and gave me a smile. He had a dimple in his cheek and his whole demeanor changed as I bantered with Adam. "I believe she has you there, Adam." He spun my chair to face him. "I'm Duncan. These crazy old men want to recruit you but I think you should be able to live your life as you have. Forget all of this and continue enjoying your life."

Connor said something in a language I didn't understand and Adam answered him. Duncan cursed and I looked up at him worried. "What are they saying? Are they talking about me?"

He smiled down at me and touched my face. "You are so young. It's almost criminal to get you involved with us."

"Duncan, be reasonable. If she's been seen with you and most likely she has because of how short staffed, the," Adam paused. "HQ has been as of late, then letting her walk out of here unprotected is like sending a lamb out to slaughter."

"What are you talking about?"

Joe rapped his cane on the counter. "How bout we talk in the hypothetical for a moment, shall we?"

"Why?"

Joe scratched his beard. "Look, we had you checked out. We know you are an MIT graduate. So let's talk about something scientific....like time travel."

I rolled my eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

Duncan chuckled. "That's the same reaction I had when these idiots said that to me."

Joe ignored him. "So if it was true would you say that you'd like to have loving parents raise you?"

Tears blurred my vision. "How far back did you research me?"

"Enough!" Duncan wiped my eyes. "That was low, even for you Dawson! Anyone would have! I would have!"

I turned to him. "You were an orphan?"

"I might as well have. When I became...when I aligned myself with Connor's clan, my father and my whole clan disowned me. They treated me as if I was the devil himself come back to torture them."

"I'm sorry." He nodded. I cleared my throat and then looked at Joe. "There are a lot of things I wish. I wish I'd have been adopted...but yeah, Lighting by Dean Koontz wouldn't be my favorite novel if I hadn't wished that I didn't know what Laura Shane felt like after her father died."

Everyone looked at Adam then. I didn't know why until he finally spoke. "It wasn't just a clever story. Hitler really did have scientists working on anything that he could possible think of to gain an advantage in the war.....even time travel."

I finally nodded. "So saying that if it did exist....yeah, I would have liked to have a family. I would have liked to belong and not have to fight everyday of my life just to survive."

"Son of a bitch," Duncan let go of my arm and turned to look out the window. "She is interested. What are you going to do now, Joe? Put a hood over her head and drag her off to one of those cloak and dagger meetings to induct her into your little club?"

Connor patted my shoulder and then stroked my hair. "No, I'm going to test this little contraption out myself first. If it works then, either Adam or I will have altered Ashley's past. She'll have a safe secure family, a first rate education, and everything that goes with that."

Duncan turned to him. "I can't believe you are still buying into this, Connor."

"And if it works?" Adam said watching me for any reaction.

Connor embraced Duncan like a brother. "Ashley will have never known the orphanage or all of the hardships that she's had to endure. She'll know a family and all of us. Things won't be an unfamiliar danger."

"And if it doesn't work, Connor, what then?"

"Then we have a lot of work to do before Kell comes looking for a pretty face."


End file.
